


Assumption of normality

by N_Moonbreeze



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 15:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17531720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N_Moonbreeze/pseuds/N_Moonbreeze
Summary: Kyuhyun had always loved colours. Funnily enough, only Ryeowook seems to appreciate his passion.





	Assumption of normality

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I originally posted this on AFF under "Moonbreeze". After proofreading it once more, I posted it here again on a better platform. I hope you will enjoy it and please, do drop a comment!

* * *

 

 

_**Of the plain people who will be forgotten in a matter of seconds**_  
_**I know you’re different**_  
_**Like the stars, love love**_  
 _ **Just the way it is, love love**_  
 _ **You and me**_  
 _ **Just us two**_  
  
\- Super Junior: “This is love”

 

Kyuhyun had always loved colours.

Ever since he could remember, his favourite memories were somehow linked to them. His first bike was sky blue, his favourite action figure was bright red, and his best friend always wore an ugly green Christmas sweater when he came to visit Kyuhyun during holidays.

Most of his favourite memories also included said best friend, Kim Ryeowook. They had been neighbours since they were infants, and their parents always joked about how they were almost literally joined at the hip. But most importantly, Ryeowook shared his love for colours. When other kids usually looked at Kyuhyun funnily when he gushed enthusiastically about his new sneakers that had flashing blue and silver lights on the heels, Ryeowook only smiled brightly.

Because Ryeowook  _understood_. He was the one that fought with him over getting to play with the red Power Ranger, because it was obviously the coolest. He was the one who made him laugh by colouring the giraffes in the colouring book purple instead of yellow “ _because purple is just a better colour for giraffes!”._  And as they grew a bit older, Ryeowook was the one who convinced him to ride a bike all the way through the city just to find the perfect spot to watch the sunrise.

If Kyuhyun could have decided, it would always have stayed that way: just him, Ryeowook and purple giraffes and Power Rangers to keep them company.

But you can’t always get what you want. _The_ day came just before they were supposed to go to the same middle school together. 12-year-old Ryeowook appeared on their doorstep with his parents, his eyes swollen and red from crying. Remorsefully they told young Kyuhyun that his best friend had to move away for a while since Ryeowook’s father had gotten a job in Japan. At least five years, they told him, and after that Kyuhyun didn’t hear anything anymore as he ran upstairs to his room, shocked and in tears. It didn’t help much when Ryeowook came after him and curled up on the bed with him, shared his tears and tried to convince him that everything was going to be alright, that they were going to stay friends no matter what. It helped a bit more when Ryeowook ran back downstairs and up again and pushed something soft into Kyuhyun’s arms.

“Since I can’t be here, I’m leaving Kiki with you. She will keep you company when I’m gone” Ryeowook smiled and pushed the plushie into Kyuhyun’s arms, ruffling the smaller boy’s hair.

“We will be together again one day, Kyukyu. I promise.”

* * *

 

So Kyuhyun started his long wait. After much imploring from his parents, specifically his mother, he tried to make new friends to make up for the absence of Ryeowook. It seemed to work, at first, since most kids in his middle school were nice enough: they helped each other with math homework, they laughed at their teacher behind her back because she wore her shirt inside out and they stole their sister’s hair gel to look like the coolest pop idols of their time.

But he never found anyone else who would have wanted to cycle a dozen miles in the wee hours of the morning just to see the sunrise.

No matter how hard he tried, no one seemed to compare to Ryeowook. There were always flaws, things missing, and it gnawed on his mind more and more as the day of Ryeowook’s departure grew distant. More often he found himself complaining to his mom “ _why they cannot be like_ him?” and perhaps without even realizing it, he grew bitter about the fact that him specifically, was robbed of the most important friend he had ever had.

Kyuhyun got no sympathy for his grievances. His father just shrugged his shoulders, explaining that it was life, losing someone important. His sister sympathized at first, but then started becoming annoyed by his complaints and finally only ignored her little brother. But the worst was his mother: one day she just snapped and started yelling about how Ryeowook was just one person, that Kyuhyun should just let go, move on and be like the normal kids.

Normal kids.

Which implied that he was abnormal, didn’t it? It wasn’t normal for him to miss his friend so much, it wasn’t normal for him to compare Ryeowook to others, it wasn’t normal for him to hold the older boy in such high regard.

So he finally gave up. He stopped complaining, stopped telling his mom about the e-mails Ryeowook sent him, stopped urging his friends to join him to go biking on the highest hill in the city at dawn.

What he didn’t stop was hugging Kiki as he fell asleep, for it was the only object that still retained its bright yellow colour when all other colours started to seem dull and bleak.

* * *

  
When you were a teen, what defined  _normal_  seemed to change every other month. One thing still always remained the same: everyone was expected to find their true love. Meet a nice girl, fall for her, marry her, have a nice little family together. And when he was at the age when most people truly start that search, Kyuhyun decided that he needed to try as well. Weirdly, it was his mother who urged him to start dating as young as 16  _“because the earlier you start looking, the earlier you will have a stable, comfortable life”._

So one day in high school he gathered the courage to ask out Seohyun, a pretty girl in his class who had a nice voice and didn’t over-do her make-up like most of the other girls. Few girls had piqued his interest in any way, but if it had to be someone, a quiet, nice girl like her would do.

Like every proper romantic lead in a drama, he bought his girl a single red rose. Seohyun received it gladly, as anyone receiving gifts would, but when Kyuhyun started talking about the different coloured flowers at the flower shop, how he had trouble selecting the perfect one, the look on her face turned into one of confusion.

“What colours are talking about?”

The question made no sense. He tried explaining that he had always seen colours, and that his best friend Ryeowook saw them too, and it was a pity that no one else seemed to notice except for that nice lady in the flower shop…at which point Seohyun handed him back the rose and shook her head.

“This isn’t going to work, and the saddest thing is that you don’t even know why” she said plainly and offered him a sad smile.

“…Care to explain why?” he managed to utter through his shock and disbelief, for this certainly wasn’t anything like he expected.

“When is Ryeowook coming back home?”

“Soon, I hope.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

She gave him a small kiss on the cheek and walked away, leaving Kyuhyun alone at the entrance of the park with a rose in his hand, wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

 

It was his 18th summer and Kyuhyun thought he was going to go mad. Ryeowook, ever apologizing, still couldn’t give him a date when he could return to Korea and Kyuhyun couldn’t stop asking, not after Seohyun’s cryptic behaviour on their first and last date. He needed the answer, even though he had no idea what kind of an answer he was looking for.

So he pleaded with his parents day and night, would they please let him travel to Japan, just for a week. He had done well with school so far, he had been respectful towards them, had made friends and tried to have a girlfriend like his mother had wanted. Mrs. Cho stayed reluctant for long, until her husband just couldn’t take Kyuhyun’s desperation any longer.

“Let the boy go. You cannot keep them separated forever.”

Way too excited for his father’s permission, he ignored the guilty look on his mother’s face and went buy a ticket for the next day. After he had sent Ryeowook an email telling that he was coming to see him, the response was swift and concise.

_I’ll be waiting ^^ <3_

* * *

 

The welcome hall at Narita airport was vast and crowded so it took Kyuhyun a while to search for his friend. It didn’t help that Ryeowook had described his new hair style and his outfit for that day to him, since the sea of salarymen and tourists seemed to have swallowed up anyone even resembling his childhood friend. Just as he was about to lose patience and begin yelling for his friend’s name, a smaller hand grasped his amongst the crowd, and a soft voice called  _Kyukyu_ somewhere near him.

Finally. He was  _finally_  there. He had lost weight, he hadn’t been able to keep up with Kyuhyun’s growth spurt, and his hair was now long and stylishly messy. But it was  _Ryeowook_.  _His_ Ryeowook.

Without thinking much, he pulled the now smaller boy into his arms and squeezed tight. He breathed in deeply Ryeowook’s scent, long lost to him as his mother had thrown Kiki into the washing machine just weeks after Ryeowook’s departure, removing the only tangible connection to him. As Ryeowook’s hands rubbed up and down his back, he squeezed a bit harder and thought to himself how wonderfully natural it all felt.

* * *

 

The first night they spent just talking, catching up on everything that wasn’t easy to put in writing. As the hours passed it became increasingly apparent that Kyuhyun hadn’t indeed been alone in his longing. Just like him, Ryeowook had had difficulties understanding why more people didn’t appreciate the beauty of seeing Mt. Fuji glad in the pink and orange hues of the sunrise. They had only shrugged when Ryeowook had asked which one was the coolest Power Ranger and his colourbooks had been stuffed away under his bed after first spring cleaning.

The more they talked, the clearer Kyuhyun realized that his mother had been wrong. What he had been doing for the past years, that wasn’t normal. It wasn’t normal to pretend to be something you are not. It wasn’t normal to put up pretenses to please others, to live your life to try and fulfil other people’s wishes.

So that night, Kyuhyun took Ryeowook by hand and they ran to the nearest park, took up a spot on its highest point, and waited there until the sun came out from behind horizon. And when Ryeowook leaned against his shoulder and tickled his neck with the tip of his nose, Kyuhyun decided that this, right here, was going to be his normal.

* * *

 

The rest of his vacation was spent like he wasn’t going to go back home at all. It was his first time abroad, and yet he had no real interest in the city itself, only in Ryeowook’s company. He could have readily admitted that it was addicting, since seeing everything bathe in bright colours again was more wondrous than he could have believed. It was like stepping out of dark room into the light again: just because his eyes had gotten used to the darkness didn’t mean that he was supposed to live that way.

And he wasn’t the only one. On the third day of his visit, Ryeowook’s mother, who had stayed silent throughout the dinner, came to hug him as Ryeowook went to the toilet.

“I’m sorry Kyuhyunnie. If I knew he could be this happy again, I would have broken my promise to your mother a long time ago. She has tried to keep you apart for all the wrong reasons.”

“My mother has tried to keep us away from each other? Why would she do that?” Kyuhyun asked in a whisper.

“Because she knew something that I didn’t, something that should have been told a long time ago.”

Mrs. Kim’s face melted into a watery smile as Ryeowook walked back into the room, utterly confused by a scared-looking best friend and an almost crying mother.

“You two are soulmates.”

* * *

 

Dazed and confused, they ended up sitting cross-legged on Ryeowook’s bed. It was all too much to take in at once, yet it still seemed to make sense.

“ _Only after a person has kissed their soulmate do they start seeing the colours of their world.”_

Such a profound statement which Kyuhyun was ready to pass as a sentimental lie right away if it didn’t explain so many things. He had known Ryeowook all his life, so he had also taken his colourful world as granted. Few found their soulmates so young, and the ones that did, seldom talked about such things as not to offend or sadden the ones who never found theirs.

Kyuhyun had never had such a filter. He just wanted to share with others the thing that made him happy.

But had it only been the colours that had made him happy?

“It’s strange… I don’t remember ever kissing you” Ryeowook said shyly and drew patterns on the mattress, not able to look at Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun nodded dumbly, and they sat in silence again. Such a rare occurance for them.

“Suppose that she is right… What does it mean?” Ryeowook spoke again, this time glancing a bit at Kyuhyun.

The younger boy contemplated this a while, both scared of such a dramatic change in his life, yet eager to try what would happen. Ryeowook’s friendship was the one thing he treasured the most, so he didn’t dare to hope that there could be something even greater between them.

Hesitantly Kyuhyun grasped the hand that laid on the mattress.

“I will always remain your friend, no matter what happens. But… I think we should… try, you know?”

Ryeowook shared his nervous little laughter and leaned forward towards him. When they were close enough, Kyuhyun could feel the way Ryeowook trembled from head to toe, so Kyuhyun cupped his cheek, gently stroking it in reassurance as he pressed his lips on Ryeowook’s.

What should have a gentle, shy first kiss was soon nothing but, as feelings long locked away and suppressed bubbled to the surface. The first time they had met they had been young, way too young to understand the beauty of this grand emotion. It had transformed them into friends instead, shaping their relationship into something that was as natural as breathing. That is why Ryeowook leaving had felt so horrible: he had not only lost a dear friend, but the other half of his heart as well.

As they parted, their lips swollen and breathing shallow and quick, everything and yet nothing had changed between them.

* * *

 

As much as Kyuhyun loathed to leave Ryeowook now that he finally had him back, he had to return home, if only to ask his mother the final question.

Why would she do that?

All those years of making him feel abnormal, of implying that his relationship wasn’t merely a childish obsession that would soon pass… What could possibly drive his mother to act like that?

When he arrived home, only his mother was there, preparing dinner in the kitchen as usual. She took one glance at Kyuhyun and sighed remorsefully.

“I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“You found him again. Guess it couldn’t be helped. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I even bothered.”

Kyuhyun knew he was supposed to angry, livid even, yet something in his mother’s face stopped him from yelling at her.

“Tell me, Kyuhyun, what do you see outside?”

Kyuhyun looked through the kitchen window and described the colourful flowerbed that sat in the yard, the green leaves that had fallen on the walkway, and the row of silver and white cars parked across from them on the side of the road. His mother looked at him while he spoke, eyes growing more and more teary. When he stopped, she raised her finger and pointed at the things he had mentioned.

“Same. Same. Same. That’s slightly darker. That’s completely white.”

As realization dawned on Kyuhyun, his mother returned to chopping vegetables, swallowing her tears.

“I never found him. As I grew older, everyone I knew found their soulmates, every month there was someone new talking about these ‘colours’ and how wonderful they were. Only when I turned thirty did a nice gentleman take pity on me, marrying me because he had lost his soulmate years ago. I never knew this fabled happiness of sharing your life with someone destined for you, and then I ended up raising a child that took theirs for granted.”

A small sniffle escaped from her as Kyuhyun laid his hand on her shoulder, but she never cried.

“A few weeks after Mrs. Kim had started to bring him here for playdates, I witnessed it happen. You were playing with her and Ryeowook in the living room when I suddenly heard loud crying and came to see what happened. Mrs. Kim was cuddling his son whilst laughing, and you sat there dumbfounded, not understanding what you had done wrong.  _‘He gave a big kiss to my Ryeowookie, and the poor boy got so scared!’_ she just laughed and pinched your cheeks.”

And so the last piece of the puzzle fell into its place. Kyuhyun removed his hand from his mother's shoulder, when feelings of sympathy and frustration clashed inside him. She had suffered and then transferred that suffering onto him, envious of the one thing she couldn’t have. By doing that, she had made him question himself for years, wondering if something was wrong with him or with everyone else.

“I’m sorry that I hated you two for it for so long. But I hope that the distance made you only treasure him more” were her final words as Kyuhyun left her in the kitchen, deciding that no more words were necessary.

* * *

 

He did understand, and he did forgive, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stay. That fall he transferred to a university he had only heard about, withdrew all the money from his savings account and boarded the plane to Japan once more. Never would he have thought that he could consider a new, strange city his  _normal_ , but then again, his old normal didn’t have Ryeowook in it.

The welcome hall at Narita airport was still vast and crowded, but his legs now found their way to Ryeowook as if they remembered the way, and when he spotted the petite man standing amongst the crowd, he seemed to be glowing. And this time, instead of a hug, he greeted his soulmate with a searing kiss, assuring him that he was there to stay. 

 


End file.
